492
BERNARD L FONTANA
To cite another example, man is not listed in the Check List of the
Recent Mammals in "The Vertebrates of Arizona" (Lowe, 1964, pp.
249-259). In spite of the fact that man is a vertebrate, and in spite of
the fact that he is an Arizona "native," having been on the scene for at
least 12,000 years, he is mentioned only once in the entire text: "With
regard to the vertebrates, however, a single bird, the water pipit (Anthus
spinoletta alticola) nests in the alpine tundra (meadow) of San Francisco
Mountain, and there are no mammals or other kinds of vertebrate animals
represented (reproductively) there; man {Homo sapiens) is an occasional
intruder" (Lowe, 1964, p. 81).
By eliminating Homo sapiens from such accounts, whatever the motives
may be, men have somehow reserved for man an isolated niche in the
overall scheme of things—or the total biota, should you prefer—to which
he clearly is not entitled. He is, in fact, a mammal; he lives within biotic
communities, however disruptive to them he may sometimes be; and he
is restricted in certain ways, as all other living things, by his habitat.
Major studies of the Sonoran Desert, to cite a few of them, have been in
the realms of botany (Bell and Castetter, 1937; Benson, 1950; Benson
and Darrow, 1944; Brand, 1936; Shreve, 1951; Shreve and Wiggins,
1964), ecology (Dice, 1939; Hastings and Turner, 1965; Kniffen, 1931;
Lowe, 1959, 1964, pp. 24-31 and 94-98; McGee, 1895; Turnage and
Hinckley, 1938), meteorology (Hastings, 1964a,b; Hastings and Humphrey, 1969a,b; Ives, 1949; Turnage and Mallery, 1941), and geology
(Bryan, 1922, 1925; Galbraith, 1959; Halpenny, 1952; Heindl and Cosner,
1961; Ives, 1964b; Simmons, 1965; Wilson, 1933; see Moore and Wilson,
1965, for an extensive bibliography).
Among these writers, Hastings and Turner (1965) are concerned with
Homo sapiens insofar as he may or may not have effected vegetation
changes within his Sonoran Desert habitat; and McGee (1895), looking
broadly at the relationship between man and his surrounding flora and
fauna in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, speculated in the 19th century—and probably correctly so—that there was something in this relationship which gave rise to the beginnings of agriculture. Bryan (1925) takes
Indian and non-Indian systems of water control and use into full account,
even though his basic interest is in physical geology.
There are, of course, studies of modern, postindustrial man in the
Sonoran Desert. This is the major thrust of Dunbier's (1968) outstanding
geography, and there are problem-oriented reports on Tucson (Wilson,
1963), the Salt River Valley (Smith and Padfield, 1969), and
Puerto Penasco (Hodges, 1969), for example, which concern themselves with water and its distribution for man's use. There are, moreover,
BERNARD L FONTANA
To cite another example, man is not listed in the Check List of the
Recent Mammals in "The Vertebrates of Arizona" (Lowe, 1964, pp.
249-259). In spite of the fact that man is a vertebrate, and in spite of
the fact that he is an Arizona "native," having been on the scene for at
least 12,000 years, he is mentioned only once in the entire text: "With
regard to the vertebrates, however, a single bird, the water pipit (Anthus
spinoletta alticola) nests in the alpine tundra (meadow) of San Francisco
Mountain, and there are no mammals or other kinds of vertebrate animals
represented (reproductively) there; man {Homo sapiens) is an occasional
intruder" (Lowe, 1964, p. 81).
By eliminating Homo sapiens from such accounts, whatever the motives
may be, men have somehow reserved for man an isolated niche in the
overall scheme of things—or the total biota, should you prefer—to which
he clearly is not entitled. He is, in fact, a mammal; he lives within biotic
communities, however disruptive to them he may sometimes be; and he
is restricted in certain ways, as all other living things, by his habitat.
Major studies of the Sonoran Desert, to cite a few of them, have been in
the realms of botany (Bell and Castetter, 1937; Benson, 1950; Benson
and Darrow, 1944; Brand, 1936; Shreve, 1951; Shreve and Wiggins,
1964), ecology (Dice, 1939; Hastings and Turner, 1965; Kniffen, 1931;
Lowe, 1959, 1964, pp. 24-31 and 94-98; McGee, 1895; Turnage and
Hinckley, 1938), meteorology (Hastings, 1964a,b; Hastings and Humphrey, 1969a,b; Ives, 1949; Turnage and Mallery, 1941), and geology
(Bryan, 1922, 1925; Galbraith, 1959; Halpenny, 1952; Heindl and Cosner,
1961; Ives, 1964b; Simmons, 1965; Wilson, 1933; see Moore and Wilson,
1965, for an extensive bibliography).
Among these writers, Hastings and Turner (1965) are concerned with
Homo sapiens insofar as he may or may not have effected vegetation
changes within his Sonoran Desert habitat; and McGee (1895), looking
broadly at the relationship between man and his surrounding flora and
fauna in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, speculated in the 19th century—and probably correctly so—that there was something in this relationship which gave rise to the beginnings of agriculture. Bryan (1925) takes
Indian and non-Indian systems of water control and use into full account,
even though his basic interest is in physical geology.
There are, of course, studies of modern, postindustrial man in the
Sonoran Desert. This is the major thrust of Dunbier's (1968) outstanding
geography, and there are problem-oriented reports on Tucson (Wilson,
1963), the Salt River Valley (Smith and Padfield, 1969), and
Puerto Penasco (Hodges, 1969), for example, which concern themselves with water and its distribution for man's use. There are, moreover,